HAIR & BEAUTY VIBES

How to: Moroccanoil Holiday Hair

I am a product junkie & a holiday lover therefore I thought the perfect blog post would be to feature some products I am currently into & a “how to” on 2 holiday hairstyles. Sounds good, right ?? Everyone always loves to play around with new hairstyles for the holidays. It is the time of year we are the busiest with lots of events and holiday photos! Tis the season to look great & extra magical.

For starters the line I am going to be featuring is Moroccanoil. I have given all the products above a try & I am in heaven. Not only do they make my hair feel amazing but they smell amazing too. I am a sucker for good smelling products. If they work good but smell bad they aren't for me. If they have both of those qualities they are a WINNER!

When creating the looks for this blog post I wanted to focus on using two of my go to products when styling. No matter what hair style I do whether its on myself or a client I need a dry texture spray and hair spray on hand, they are my must haves. I have tried a million different brands & the Moroccanoil texture spray and hairspray are at the top of my list.

If you follow me on Instagram you know that boho hair holds a place in my heart no matter what the occasion is. Since the holiday season is crazy busy I love to come up with hairstyles that are quick to do but don't look it. Half up styles are my go to because they can be worn casual or dressy and can be taken from day to night.

Accent braids

This look can work for you no matter your length is. Its quick to do & takes your hair to the next level.

I did a full head of beachy waves with a 1in iron. I sprayed each section before curling with the “Luminous Hairspray”. Once all the waves were created I added a ton of texture & grit with the texture spray.

I chose her left side to do her accent braids on & left some face framing hair out.

Taking a decent size section from the top of her hair I did a regular 5 strand braids

To achieve a 5 strand braid you are going to split the section into 5 equal sections. Starting from the left picture your stands being labeled as a,b,c,d,e. You are going to take stand A go under B and over C. Then you are going to take strand E go under D over C. And repeat this all the way down. Just keep saying under, over, under, over in your head & don’t get discouraged.

Once you finish the 5 strand braid spray with the "Dry Texture Spray" and pull at the outside sections to make the braid appear even thicker. Pin the braid into place in the back of the head.

Take a small section underneath the braid and split it into two equal sections. Twist each section to the right then cross them over each other to the left ( this will keep the twist from unraveling) Pin into place in the back of the head.

Finish with Luminous Hairspray. I added a hair accessory for some more jazz because you can NEVER go wrong with that.

mixed braids and a messy bun -

Another half up style that again can be achieved on any length.

I did a full head of beachy waves with a 1in iron. I sprayed each section before curling with the “Luminous Hairspray”. Once all the waves were created I added a tone of texture & grit with the "Dry Texture Spray".

On the left side of my head I did a regular fishtail braid.

To achieve the fishtail split the hair into 2 equal sections. Taking small sections of hair from the outside of one section cross it over and into the middle. Do the same on the opposite side and continue to do so until you are done with the fishtail.

Spray it with "Dry Texture Spray" & pinch and pull at the braid to make it full and fluffy.

On the right side of my head I did a regular 3 strand braid.

Taking both braids and hair underneath I tied it into a ponytail. On the last tie of the elastic I only pulled the ponytail a little less than half way through.

Next I took the tail end of the ponytail that remained hanging, twisted it, pinched and pulled it to make it fluffy and pinned it into place over the base of the ponytail.

Finished with the "Luminous Hairspray." Again, I added a hair accessory for some more jazz.

You could also wear this style fully up by taking all the hair into the ponytail instead of a half.

I hope you enjoyed this post & leave feeling inspired !! If you like what you see don't forget to subscribe on the left hand side. #ArganEveryDay #spon

For those of you that don't know this Sunday my hubs + I are hopping on a plane { leaving our 2 year old daughter for the first time , I will be sobbing but that's a whole other story } for the Behind The Chair One Shot Awards!! I am thrilled that my braid was nominated along side 24 other insanely talented artist in the braid category !! I could go on and on right now about the BTC awards BUT you are going to have to wait until next Friday's post. That post will be entirely dedicated to the whole shaaabang! But I thought in honor of the awards being this weekend I would post a tutorial or how I achieved the braid that got me nominated. It just seems like the perfect pre awards post! This braid already had a lot of meaning to me because I created it and the tutorial below for the Sam villa blog. It was featured on their website back in April. That was and still is huge for me, it has been one of the most exciting things to happen in my career along side being nominated for this award. It's pretty dang cool it's been the same braid. This braid is done on me by me like 98% of my styles. Being my own model has been the most convenient thing ever because 1. I post a new style almost everyday and who is going to be around that often ? 2. When I think up a style I am super impatient and want to do it immediately. 3. It forces me to have pretty dope hair daily. Although when you walk around target with a super extravagant braid people tend to look at you a little odd, I'm ok with it. Where I live I get looked at a little weird for my fashion sense anyway. Not everyone around here walks around town with space buns. Ok, I'm getting off track per usual, I can't help it I like to talk ! To the point ... I hope you enjoy this step by step pictorial !! If you recreate this big ol bohemian braid tag me in your photo on Instagram @glambytoriebliss #glambytoriebliss, it would be so awesome to see them. I will be posting my favorite recreations on my Instagram!

When braiding I like to begin on hair that was washed and blow dried the day before so the hair isn't to silky! If your hair was just washed then a dry texture spray works wonders to add a little texture and grit. My absolute favorite to date is the Rusk dry texture spray. Stuff is the bomb.com! { my go to for almost every style, even if my hair isn't freshly washed }

To start this look,I added my 24" clip in hair Luxy hair extensions ( for $5 off use code toriebliss ) for extra thickness, some color dimension and about 3 inches extra length. Then I prepped my hair roots to end with the Sam Villa Textur Iron (this iron is a dream) This iron makes your hair appear crazyyyy thick by adding mass amounts of micro crimps to each strand. I used my Sam Villa Styling Brush to separate all the crimps + prep it for the next step. If you do not have one of these iron you can still create this braid. For more texture you could prep your hair first with a curling iron/wand for beachy waves.

Time for the fun part !

Next, I took two triangle sections on each side of my head { from my hairline to behind my ears } and did two regular fishtails. It is important to braid in the direction you want your braids to go so they lay smoother against your head when pinned in place. Since you want these braids to go back, braid them going towards the back of your head.

Now for me the bigger the braid the better sooo to make them fuller and more fabulous I pancaked the braids. If you are not familiar with this method, it is when you pull apart the braid from the bottom to the top to make it appear wider and thicker and show stopping of course. Next, drape one of the fishtails back across your head and pin it into place. Take the other fishtail and do the same thing but this time cross over the previous fishtail braid.

Fun fact: While pancaking your braid pull each strand out separately instead of a bunch at once and go slowwww { slow and steady wins the race } Doing this gives the braids extra detail and keeps the braid from appearing too messy. Keep repeating this method as many times as needed to achieve your desired look. Also, don't put your elastic in until you are happy with your results because you will not get the same effect trying to pancake with the elastic already in!

Once the fishtails are nice and secure take the two tail ends of the fishtails and combine them with one elastic. Make sure the elastics you used to secure them separately are below the elastic you are putting in. Now that they are together remove the other two elastics.

With the remaining hair of the fishtails in your hand, pick up some extra hair from each side and underneath. I like to use a horseshoe-shaped section as this will create a nice thick braid vs if you just braided the hair that you secured in the ponytail. Now that you have plenty of hair to work with begin by creating a fishtail braid below the elastic.

Fun fact: If you take small pieces and start crossing over hair from the highest point of the section, it will cover the elastic from your previous step.

Once you get down a little ways switch to a 3 strand braid and then back to a fishtail. Mix it up! Doing this technique adds so much more texture, it is one of my all time favorite things to do when braiding. Again, use the pancake method to pull the braids apart and then secure with an elastic.

Now take that bad boy and clip it up out of the way. With the remaining hair underneath, create another fishtail braid. Take large sections as you work your way down. When you get to the bottom pancake, pancake, pancake, like a lot. You may feel like it is too much, but for a stacked combo braid you want the bottom braid to be as WIDE as possible so it peaks out the sides of the middle braid. By the time you are finished pulling it apart it will not look much like a braid but I promise when it is all combined together it will be magiccc. Secure with an elastic.

Now take your middle braid down and about half way down, open up a section of your bottom braid and weave the middle braid through it. The tail end of the middle braid will now be behind the bottom braid. Secure with some bobby pins from behind. Then a little ways down, split open the bottom braid again and weave the tail through from the back to the front. With the tail end in the front split it into two. Take each section and wrap it around to the back of the bottom braid and pin it to create a downward V. I randomly did the V thing one day and instantly became obsessed, it has become a signature thing in my braids. It creates an awesome focal point and leaves people wondering how the heck you did it. { even though it is ridiculously easy, they don't have to know that }

BOOM there you have it , a super huge bohemian braid.

What did you think ? Would you like to see more of these pictorials in the future ? Leave me a comment below !! Have you subscribed to { Life of Bliss } yet ?? You can do so to the right via bloglovin ! When I reach 25 subscribers I am going to host a giveaway !!